+ All Categories
Home > Travel > Performance and challenges of zonal taxi transport systemin addis ababa , ethiopia

Performance and challenges of zonal taxi transport systemin addis ababa , ethiopia

Date post: 19-Jan-2015
Category:
Upload: wondem
View: 2,682 times
Download: 4 times
Share this document with a friend
Description:
 
Popular Tags:

If you can't read please download the document

Transcript
  • 1. Performance and Challenges ofZonal Taxi Transport System in Addis Ababa

2. Problem Justification Transport is a vital component of development. Where a good transport infrastructure exists,people are better able to take advantage of awide variety of economic opportunities, toincrease their mobility, and improve their livingstandards. Where the transport facilities are poor, however,the mobility of people and the movement ofgoods are limited, economic opportunitiescurtailed, and living standards decline or rise onlyslowly (Hoyle, 1988). 3. Contd Road mode of transport is dominatingAfricans transport. It accounts for 80 to 90 percent Africa has low road density, 6.84 km per 100km2 as compared to Latin Americas 12 kmper 100 km2 and Asias 18 km per 100 km2(Economic Commission for Africa, 2007). In sub-Sahara Africa, urban public transport isa sector which remains poorly organisedacross the continent. 4. Contd Many companies were created in variouscountries, even several times in the samecountry, but the vast majority of them have failed(Trans-Africa Consortium, 2008). the main rationale of clear-felled is the absenceof policies on land use and economicdevelopment has led to urban sprawl, whichmultiplies the challenge posed by rapidpopulation growth. The declining populationdensity associated with sprawl has increasedtravel distances and pushed up the price of publictransport. 5. Contd Again, these developments affect the poordisproportionately, often effectively excludingthem from work and social services.Meanwhile, the rising use of private cars haschoked roads, endangering the safety ofpedestrians and the health of city residentswho breathe in automobile emissions (Kumarand Barrett, 2008). 6. Contd Providing equitable and efficient public transport forthe ever increasing demand with limited availableresource is one of the challenges in the Addis AbabaCity Administration. The major modes of public transport are buses andtaxis. There is no rail transit within the city yet. Unlike African cities, Addis Ababa residents highlydepend on large bus compared to taxi. taxis share is 20 percent, and buses 35 percent. But other African cities depend on taxi compared totaxi(e.g. taxi share in Dar es Salma accounts 61percent, Kigali 75 percent , Nairobi 29 percent but busaccount 7 percent) 7. Contd Several studies conducted on urban transport inAddis Ababa. Their finding show that the citytransport is very poor. But, their study focused on all public transportoffered in Addis Ababa rather than taxi. Addis Ababa transport branch office commenced taxizoning transport system to improve transportsituation. The system divided Addis Ababa into five zonesnamely; Asko, Tor-Hailoch, Saris, Bole andMegenagna. 8. Contd Each zone has a specific routes in within itsterritory. Taxis under each zone are expected tooperate only in the routes within the zonewhere they are registered. The highest number of routes is 42 in Askozone, followed by 38 in Megenagna and 31 inBole and Saris for each; the least number 24 inTor-Hailoch 9. Contd According to the branch office, one of themain objectives of the taxi zoning system ispreventing taxis from refusing to travel longdistances to maximize their income. Then,passengers are able to travel as far as theywant along the set routes. taxi zoning system is important for taxi users,owners and operators, as it saves money andtime 10. Contd However, whether this zonal transport system hasbrought desired outcomes is not yet to be assessed. The assessment could be examined from differentperspectives. Firstly, accessibility of transport to the dweller of thecity is one of the parameters. Anecdotal evidences reflect that shortage of taxis incontrast to the number of passengers in a given area. This problem is also aggravated by the fact thatassigned taxis in a given route do not provide fulltime service to the passengers (from 6:30 am to9:00pm). 11. Contd Secondly, more than 50 percent of Addis Ababacity residents live below absolute poverty lineand most of the residents have low income(Addis Ababa Finance and Economic Bureau,2010). However, the cost of transit in the city is steadilyincreasing overtime as a result of increase in theprice of oil and spare parts. Thus, whether taxi transport fares are expensive(for the poor) to afford or not are not studied. In fact, observations show that the systemincreases the cost of transport in the city. 12. Contd Thirdly, passengers have right to claim quality ofservice as the return of their payment. However, complaints come frequently frompassengers on quality of roads, traffic congestion,unpredictable and irregular service, long waitingtime to get taxi and other problems. But, whether the city transport bureau hasestablished grievance handling mechanisms isnot studied. Finally, the extent of stakeholders participationfor the effective implementation of the system isnot known clearly. 13. Objectives of Study General objective: General objective of the study is identifyingthe performance and opportunities of zonaltransport system in Addis Ababa. In addition,it also finds out the challenges and problemsthat hamper the system from being effective. 14. Specific objectives: this study seeks to measure the performance of zonal taxitransport system in terms of availability,accessibility, affordability and quality; Examine the accountability relationships andactors participation, and grievance handlingmechanisms; and Identify challenges of zonal taxi transportsystem. 15. Research Questions How is zonal taxi transport system helping passengers toaccess service? What are the challenges faced in the implementation ofzonal taxi transport system? To what extent is far zonal taxi transport system effective? Does the weakness zonal taxi transport system to providequality of service to passengers? How far actors participate in the system? Is there any accountability relationship between actors? Is there any room to motivate actors participate in thesystem? What factors those hinder the system from being effective? Does city administration have grievance handlingmechanisms? 16. Research Design and Method Research Approach To measure the above objectives, bothdescriptive and exploratory research methodswere used. Besides, both qualitative and quantitativedata have been utilized. Zonal taxi transport system has 239 routes,which are categorized into five zones; namely,Bole, Megenagna, Asko, Saris and Tor-Hailoch. 17. Contd This study considered the six mainterminals vis--vis: Megenagna, Bole,Saris, Piazza, Asko and Tor Hailoch. These terminals are selected purposivelyin order to get more insight intopassengers perception on serviceaccessibility, quality and affordability;and problems they grapple with asregards service provision. 18. Table3.3:Variables and theirindicators.Variables to be measured Indicator ofhelps to measure indicators variablesPerformanceAccessibility Spatial accessibility of taxis Availability of taxi Getting seat Considering all segment of society group Affordability Whether it is affordable or not Quality Behaviour of taxi drivers and conductors Quality of road Taxi station attendants Passengers Alternative modes of transport Traffic congestion Waiting time to get taxi Safety and security Customer satisfaction 19. ContdActorsStakeholders involvementHow far all actors are involved in the systemparticipationAccountability Clear organization structure How far actors accountability relationship is clear.relationshipGrievanceTelephone, suggestion box, Accessible to the public and responsiveness of thehandling suggestion writhing pad,systemmechanisms face- to face 20. Types of Data The study used both primary and secondarysources of data. Primary data collected through structuredinterview, deep face-to-face-interview with keyinformants and personal observations about howtaxis provide service to the passengers. Secondary data were also consulted frompublished and unpublished documents, reports,public opinion ( online radio conversation), andinternet 21. Contd The target groups of this study were AddisAbaba city dwellers who use taxi as a mainmode of transport. The selected respondents were 175 peopleand collected 35 samples from each zone. However, the collected data shows that 33respondents are residents of Tor-Hailoch andBole zone for each; 36 respondents fromMegenagna and Saris zones for each; and therest 33 people are the residents of Asko. 22. Contd The respondents of structured interview wereselected randomly when they were travelingor waiting taxi at taxi terminals as a result ofdifficult to differentiate taxi user. The respondents of unstructured interviewwere selected purposely from the employeesof the city transport bureau, associations andpolice commission, and convenience samplingfor drivers and conductors, and taxi stationattendants. 23. Data collection procedure: The validity and reliability of the structuredinterview were tested through pilot testing using20 respondents of similar character outside taxiterminals. For collection, field assistants were trained forabout 4:00 hours on how to conduct thestructured interview. One data collector was assigned in each zone.Data collectors were supervised by theresearcher on how they could collect the data. 24. Contd Since the majority of passengers are Amhariclanguage speakers, first the structured interviewquestions were prepared in English language andthen translated into Amharic. The collected data through structured interviewswere edited, coded, and entered into SPSS 13version. The data, which used in the inferential statisticsi.e. ANOVA to compare mean of zones, havebeen checked whether they assumptions weremet or not. 25. Contd The data which fulfil the assumptions wereused in the inferential statistics. Scheffe posthoc test were used as a result of differentsample size of zones. Data Analysed: Data collected through structured interviewswere edited, coded, and entered on SPSS 13version. Subsequently, they were analysed byusing inferential and descriptive statistics. 26. Contd To compare the mean across zones, ANOVA andscheffe post hoc test were done to find the statusof zones. Mean, percentage and frequency tables wereutilized to explain characteristics of respondentsand present the collected data. Data obtained from official records andinterviews were used to enrich, illustrate, andelaborate the quantitative and qualitativefindings. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses wereused to answer research questions. 27. Discussion of Findings of the Study 28. Performance of Addis Ababa Zonal Taxi Transport System1. Accessibility of Addis Ababa Transportation A. Spatial AccessibilityThe system is divided the city in to five zones andredesigned routes and taxi stations and limited taxis inspecific route.Currently, the city taxi stations and routes reached to127 and 269 respectively.The system increased the taxi routes by 103 to makeaccessible to the public.However, 47 percent of respondents do know about thenew introduced routes. The remaining 53 percent ofrespondents do not have awareness about it. 29. Contd Taxi stations established with insufficientresearch on the demand of the transport. Passengers rated 2.69/5. Addis Ababa road coverage reached 13.1percent which is half of the plan for 2022(Addis Ababa Road Authority, 2012). It is above African cities road coverage, 7percent and below developed cities, 25-30percent (Kumar and Barrett, 2008). 30. Contd This implies that road network is not reachedall parts of the city Spatial accessibilityoftransportationmeasures on how far the passengers arewalking to get taxi from their home. On average, the city passengers are walking14 minutes way to get taxi. On the other hand, on average African citiespassengers are walking 10 minutes way to gettransport (Kumar and Barrett, 2008). 31. Contd This is the result of Provisional Trust BoardAdministration of Addis Ababa, which was weakand illegitimate, was unable to control illegal landinvasion coupled with economic developmentwhich has led to urban sprawl, which multipliesthe challenge posed by rapid population growth. The declining population density associated withsprawl has increased travel distances and pushedup the demand of public transport. Consequently, the city transport bureau is unableto reach public with limited quantity of vehiclesand road coverage. 32. B. Availability of Taxi Passengers who get taxi as they reach taxi stations are only 31 percent and the rest do not get. on average, passengers are forced to wait 27 minutes to get taxi at taxi stations. It is almost similar to other African cities. According to Kumar and Barrett (2008) ,on average, African passengers wait 30 minutes to get taxi at terminals. However, it is much larger than Riyadh, where passengers wait on average 6 minutes to get taxi (Algadhi, 1992). The reasons of shortage of taxi:6. the city transport bureau expected more than 12000 taxis to be registered. But, the actual taxis registered not more than 9500 taxis. 33. Contd2. taxis are not working or absent in the assigned routes in stated time as a result of transportation fares.3. Unknown taxi route for passengers.4. Low frequency and efficiency of taxis.According to the city transport branch office, taxisprovide service to more than 1.5 million people everyday. This means that each taxi serves more than 150people per day. On average, 180 Km per day distance is covered by taxis in Addis Ababa which is below African cities, which is 186 km per day (Kumar and Barrett, 2008). As a result of accident and age. 34. Contd5. Chopping of routes as a result of lose control andcoordination of actors.6. The city transport had not new investment as a resultof inadequate or no attractive situation for investors. C. Getting Seat:According to Kumar and Barrett (2008), show that the AddisAbaba population share of seat for all modes of public transportis 12 seats per 1000 population. But, on average, African citieshave 41 seats per 1000 population.In Addition, only 34 percent of respondent do have seat whenthey commute. The remaining 66 percent do not have.It is worse in early morning , late afternoon and at night as aresult of absence of controllers and traffic police. 35. Affordability of Urban Transportation The system commenced with new taxi fares to make taxitransport affordable to the poor. However, fares are beingimplemented wrongly. This is because of lose control of actors and lack ofawareness of the passengers. The fares are expensive for the poor to afford. The passengers spend on average 19.7 percent of theirincome for transportation. It is more than African cities passenger budget fortransportation which is on average 6.5 percent of theirincome (Kumar and Barrett, 2008). To sum up, it is difficult to say zonal taxi transport systemcould make the fares affordable to the people. Rather it helpstaxi drivers to exploit the poor. 36. Quality of Urban Taxi TransportationA. The Behaviour of Taxi Drivers and Conductors Zonal taxi transport system brought some improvement on the behaviour of taxi drivers and conductors. Because of awareness training offered and the system makes easer to find and punish unethical drivers via limiting taxis in specific route. However, main challenges to control unethical drivers are: 37. Contd1. Taxi drivers and conductors are employed informally coupled withpassengers inadequate awareness about their right; opens the door to assault passengers orally as well as in written and notices.2. Taxis have reserve (scoart) drivers, which drive when the main drivers take rest.3. Taxi drivers and conductors are addict of drugs (chat and cigarette) which force them to violate passengers right. 38. Contd Passengers also rated 2.72/ 5 on the behaviour of taxi drivers and conductors. To sum up, there is poor quality of taxi transport in the city due to bad behaviour of drivers and conductors.B. Quality of roads Passengers rated 3.27/5 the quality of city taxi transport service is better with the perspective of roads. In addition, the status of roads is relatively found in better condition. Almost the arterial and sub arterial roads are found in very good condition(Addis Ababa Road Authority, 2012) 39. *F=3.642, Sig. =0.005 and df= (4, 170) there is statically significant difference between zones onpublic evaluation on the quality of road at the P


Recommended